by Logan Jacobs
“Yes, that will be handy,” Hae-won agreed as she slid our makeshift ramp into the back as well.
“Shouldn’t we have helmets?” Becka asked as she eyed the bikes.
I glanced at Hae-won.
“I did not see any helmets,” Hae-won shrugged. “But we will be fine. Many people ride without helmets.”
“And if we happen to pass a Harley-Davidson store on the way, we can stop and pick some up,” I added with a grin.
“Let’s go,” Hae-won encouraged. “I want to get these back to the campus and show you what they can do.”
I smiled at the Korean’s enthusiasm, but Becka only frowned. The blonde stepped back so I could jump down from the back and close the door. The Brit and I climbed back into the carrier while Hae-won claimed the last police bike. A moment later, I heard the bike’s engine roar to life, and then Hae-won drove forward and skidded to a halt near the driver’s side door.
“I will follow you,” Hae-won said with a smile and a nod.
I gave her a thumbs up since I wasn’t sure how well she would be able to hear me over the sound of the engines, and then looked at Becka.
“You’re in charge of the maps again,” I said.
Becka nodded and then checked her phone. A moment later, she directed me down the block, around a tight corner, and onto a tree-lined street filled with lovely Victorian homes. I kept an eye on the police bike as it followed behind, but no one stepped out to investigate the sudden noise even though we were in an army truck and on a police motorcycle. Though perhaps that was why they stayed away, since they would assume we were hunting dinosaurs, and no one wanted to be too close to that.
When we arrived back at the campus, I noticed that a few barricades had gone up further down the street, but nothing else had changed. There didn’t seem to be anyone on guard duty at the moment, though it was hard to see inside all of the windows.
“I’ll help move the cars,” Becka huffed as she opened her door.
“I don’t like this,” I said as I grabbed her arm before she could leave. “They wouldn’t go to all that trouble to set up a barricade and then not have someone watching it.”
“But we need to move Tim in front of the gate,” Becka pointed out, “or they’ll get back inside like they did the other day.”
I glanced toward the campus and the gallery, but I didn’t see strangers moving around. Maybe the barricade was simply their own statement about what was now their territory, but it still made me nervous. Hae-won, I realized, had already hopped off the bike and was moving toward one of the cars. Her long black hair was tangled from the wind, but she didn’t seem to notice. She jumped into the nearest car, disappeared under the wheel for a moment, then popped back up and eased the car out of its slot.
“See?” Becka said as she dropped out of the carrier.
The girls moved the last two cars while I kept a nervous eye on the barricade. Despite the sound of all the engines, no one appeared, either to challenge us or just to watch. When the gate was clear, I moved Tim into place, though I left enough room for us to squeeze through with the bikes. I left the motor running as I climbed out of the carrier and joined the girls at the back.
“Let’s unload the other two, move all three inside the campus, and then I’ll put Tim back into place,” I said.
The girls nodded as I opened the back door, and I hopped inside. I set out the plywood board, then undid the straps around the Bonneville. I backed the bike to the edge of the ramp, and then eased it over the lip of the truck. The girls each grabbed a side and rolled it slowly backwards the rest of the way down the ramp.
When the Triumph was safely on its kickstand again and the girls were back in place, I freed the police bike from the seatbelts and moved it toward the ramp. The thing was heavy, and I wasn’t sure if the plywood would hold it a second time, and the creak from the board as I eased the back tire onto the ramp wasn’t reassuring. Despite the sag in the middle, the girls were able to guide the bike down the ramp and roll it through the gate. With all three bikes safely inside the campus, I clambered back into Tim’s driver’s seat and eased the armored carrier into place.
As I dropped to the ground on the campus side, I spotted a figure at the new barricade. It was the old man that had convinced the other locals to leave, and he waved when he saw me look in his direction. I waved back, though Becka’s warning was running through my head, and I wondered where the rest of the men were. I grabbed the backpack and my rifle from the truck and trotted over to the girls.
“I’m rather impressed that they managed to build their own barricade while we were gone,” I noted.
“I wonder how they moved the cars and those chunks of concrete,” Becka said. “Do you think they found a tow truck of their own?”
“If they did, we could be in trouble,” I replied. “They could move Tim whenever they want.”
“It’s a good thing we found these motorbikes, then,” Hae-won said. “We can ride away while they’re trying to move Tim.”
“Come on,” I said as I grabbed the handlebars on one of the police bikes. “Let’s get these up to the gallery. We can drop off the medicines, and then I’m going to need a lesson on how to ride one of these.”
“I will be happy to show you,” Hae-won said with a smile as we started to walk toward our base.
“About that,” Becka started and then stopped when Hae-won and I turned to look at her.
“Do you need help as well?” Hae-won guessed.
“Well, I was so terrible with a car that my mum said there was no way she would let me ride a bike,” Becka confessed. “A friend of mine had one, and he let me ride it once, but I nearly drove it into a pond, and he refused to let me get near it ever again.”
“You are afraid?” Hae-won asked, but she said it plainly like a statement.
“Indeed,” Becka sighed.
“You had bad teachers,” Hae-won replied. “I am a good teacher, and you are smart. I will show you how to ride the correct way, and you will love it.”
“If you say so.” Becka looked unconvinced, but she shrugged and pushed the other police bike along the path toward the quad.
We stopped at the gallery first and opened the door long enough for me to toss the backpack inside, and then Hae-won led us to the grassy expanse of the quad. The horned dino was still there, and I spotted a pair of the vulture dinos sitting on the roof of a nearby building, but that was it for dinos at the moment.
The quad was starting to smell like blood and musty socks, and our practice ring had been cut in half, but Hae-won insisted it wouldn’t matter. The Korean had us set the bikes on the kickstands, and then she ordered Becka and I onto the police bikes.
“So, you see this is your speedometer and tachometer,” Hae-won said as she pointed to the two dials. “These buttons are for the headlight and the turn signals, and so this is probably for the flashing police lights.”
Hae-won pressed the button in question, and the blue lights came to life. She managed to cut it off before the siren sounded, though we all stared around the yard just to make sure we hadn’t attracted any more attention.
“Okay, these are for the radio, but we won’t worry about those now,” she added. “This button will turn the engine on. But before you do that, we should go over the controls for the engine.”
“This is what I couldn’t keep straight last time,” Becka mumbled.
“It’s very easy,” Hae-won assured her. “We will start with your left side. The lever by the left handlebar is the clutch. The left pedal is the gearshift. The front brake is that switch by the right handlebar. The rear brake is the right pedal. So, left makes you go, right makes you stop. Except for the throttle, which is the grip on the right side.”
“Left makes you go, right makes you stop,” I repeated as I tested the various controls. “Except for the throttle which is the grip on the right side.”
“Now let’s practice shifting up,” Hae-won instructed. “First, roll off the throttle and then squeeze th
e clutch lever. It is just like driving a manual transmission. You will feel the running point. Rubbing point? Is that the right phrase?”
“I understand what you mean,” I said, and Becka nodded.
“Okay.” Hae-won nodded. “Try now.”
Becka and I followed suit, and when Hae-won felt we had accomplished that successfully, she nodded in approval.
“Place your left foot under the gear shift and lift up, then release the clutch and ease into the throttle to the rubbing point,” Hae-won urged. “When the shift is made, take your foot away from the shift.”
We practiced a few times, with Hae-won correcting Becka’s sequence until she had it right.
“It’s not that different from a car,” I noted.
“Says you,” Becka huffed.
“Let’s try downshifting,” Hae-won said when we’d both managed to complete the sequence for upshifting several times without her help.
“Ugh,” Becka replied as she glared at the motorcycle.
“Come off the throttle and squeeze the clutch lever,” Hae-won instructed. “Place your foot on top of the left pedal, press down, and then slowly release the clutch. Roll on the throttle, and then take your foot away from the gear shift.”
We practiced downshifting several times, and I was happy to see that Becka seemed to be getting the hang of it. As a last lesson, Hae-won had us practice using the brakes, and reminded us that we had to use both at the same time if we didn’t want to get tossed from the bike.
“I think I’ve got the hang of this,” I said as I ran through the sequences again.
“Okay, let’s see what you can do,” Hae-won agreed.
I set the kickstand out of the way, then ran over a mental checklist of the controls. When I was certain I had the right sequence, I pressed the button for the engine and grinned as the growl rumbled over the quad. The sound seemed to vibrate inside me as well, and I could understand why people would find motorcycles so appealing. With the girls looking on, I shifted into first, let off the clutch, twisted the throttle, and promptly stalled the engine.
“Doh,” I snickered. “Not enough gas. Let me try again.”
I steadied myself and then turned the engine on again. I stared at the controls again, tested each one, then teased the clutch with the gas. The engine sputtered for a moment, but then I was moving off across the quad, slowly to be sure, but at least I was moving. I upshifted again, and picked up speed as I moved away from the quad and followed some of the sidewalks toward the outskirts of the campus. It was exhilarating, and I would have kept going straight on into the city except for the buildings that loomed up in my path.
I applied the brakes, and managed to downshift with only a minimal amount of sputtering from the engine. I pointed the bike toward a path that would take me back to the quad, and I practiced with the shift and the brakes as I made my return. I had to drive past the one-horned dino along the way, and the sound of the engine scared away one of the dino vultures that had landed nearby.
“We might have to deal with those vultures again,” I said as I pulled up next to Hae-won.
Becka, I saw, was driving slowly around the quad, with lots of stops and starts. I felt bad for the engine, which squealed in protest as Becka tried to practice shifting.
“If we leave soon, we won’t have to deal with them,” Hae-won noted as Becka nearly plowed into a column.
“I think I’ll be able to handle basic driving on the road with a few more trips around the quad,” I said. “But what about Becka?”
“I will work with her,” Hae-won replied as the other police motorcycle stalled. “I will have her ready for highway driving before we are done today.”
“All right.” I appreciated Hae-won’s conviction, though I was less sure that the goal was obtainable. I glanced back toward the vultures and then toward the blonde on the bike. Hae-won patted my shoulder before she walked off toward the other police bike and its unhappy rider. Becka had gotten off and kicked the machine while she called it a few nasty names, but Hae-won arrived and managed to soothe the other woman’s frustration.
I turned my attention back to my own ride and decided to make a few more circuits around the campus. I found myself zooming past ancient buildings and newer monstrosities as I drove along wide avenues and squeezed through narrow archways. I even managed a few figure eights under a small quad lined with old oaks and drove over to the west gate to check on the difo.
I had to remind myself that I didn’t want to use all the gas, so I returned to our own quad one more time and brought the bike to a perfect stop just in front of the gallery. I looked around the quad and saw that the other two bikes were gone, and I hoped that meant that Hae-won had managed to teach Becka how to handle the bike. A few moments later, I heard the sound of the approaching engines and the two women rode into view, black and gold hair flying in the wind and smiles plastered on their faces. They pulled up next to me, and Becka almost forgot to shut the engine off before she jumped off from the bike.
“I am so ready to ride home!” the blonde declared.
“She is a very good rider now,” Hae-won added.
“It’s incredible!” the blonde laughed as she threw her arms around me. “The wind feels great in my hair, and it’s so responsive. Much more enjoyable than driving.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I replied. “Because I’ve been thinking that it’s time we’ve left. I don’t think we’ll gain anything by staying in Cambridge, not with the portal in our yard and the neighbors building forts of their own.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard in ages,” Becka said as she tightened her arms around my neck and kissed me. It was a soft, lingering kiss that sent tingles down my limbs.
“We will go north?” Hae-won asked. “To find Becka’s mom?”
“We will,” I replied as Becka stepped back. “Let’s get the bikes inside, and then we can work on packing up our gear and drawing up some routes. We need to have several ways to get there mapped out, and ways to switch to other roads in case the one we’re on is blocked for some reason. I’d like to have that done before we leave.”
“Can we take one more shower tomorrow morning?” Becka asked. “Before we leave?”
“We can,” I agreed. “Though I’d like to head out early and see how far we can go in a single day.”
“I think this is a good plan,” Hae-won said.
“I’m just sorry we’re leaving Tim,” Becka sighed as she glanced toward the gate. “But I understand why.”
“Maybe you should try calling your mother tonight,” I said. “If you get through, you can let her know we’re coming.”
“Mum always did hate having unexpected guests,” the blonde said with a laugh.
I unlocked the gallery, and we wheeled the bikes into the lobby. Once we had locked and barricaded the door and stripped off our armor, I picked up the backpack and the three of us returned to the staff room. We spent the rest of the day deciding on what to take and what to leave, and packed the new camping backpacks as well as our smaller backpacks with as much as they could hold, then added the rest to the compartments on the bikes. Hae-won found a way to tie the oversized packs to the back of the bikes with the bungee cords, which meant we could carry the rifles and the smaller packs on ourselves.
In between all the packing, we worked out routes as we checked and rechecked road reports. Becka told us we needed to get to Scarborough, and the town was just north of that, along the moors. I pictured a flat and desolate stretch with lots of fog and quicksand while I hummed Scarborough Fair. Hae-won started to sing along as well, which drew several eye rolls from Becka.
We also looked over the map of known portals and stories about dino sightings until we felt confident we could find a way north that would minimize our risks. There were plenty of backroads and lanes we could use, and I figured we’d have enough supplies that we could avoid the larger metropolitan areas where the dinosaur attacks seemed to be concentrated. Becka became considerab
ly happier as our plans moved forward, and it really started to sink in that we were finally leaving.
Late in the afternoon, the blonde tried her mother’s number again. At first, nothing happened, and Becka was about to give up when the phone on the other end started to ring. I saw Becka close her eyes and cross her fingers, and then a moment later she let out a whoop.
“Mum, is that you?” Becka cried out. “Yes, it’s me… I’m fine, but I wanted to let you know that I’m coming home. I’m leaving tomorrow with some friends…. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe… Yes, I know, but… Just get my room ready…. Mum? Mum?”
“Did you lose the connection?” Hae-won asked as Becka sighed and stared at the phone.
“I did,” Becka replied. “But at least I know she’s still alive, and now she knows we’re coming.”
The blonde looked up and smiled at us, and it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. She practically glowed with joy, and Hae-won swept her into a hug that left the two women alternately laughing and crying.
“I say this calls for a party,” I said as I opened another bottle of wine, and we laughed and joked, and even sang snippets of a few songs as we enjoyed a bottle of wine, and then another, and then a third. By sunset, we were more than ready for a dinner feast, and Becka used the last of the fresh vegetables and chicken cutlets to make a last curry dish. We ate it quickly, though I tried to savor every bite since I couldn’t be sure how long it would be before we could enjoy anything fresh again. We’d packed the rest of the food with a decent shelf life onto the bikes, except what we would need in the morning.
We’d also opened two more bottles of wine, which we used to toast our upcoming departure. I tried to sip my wine, since I really wanted to get an early start and I was already pretty buzzed, but the girls were more carefree with their consumption. Hae-won seemed especially determined to get drunk, and not long after I had finished cleaning the last plates, she fell asleep on the couch with her long silky obsidian hair over her face, her half-empty wine glass perched precariously on the arm of the couch, and a buzzsaw of a snore coming from her nose and mouth.